Friday, July 24, 2009

Eleven Arrested for Child Porn in Upstate New York

Federal and state authorities have arrested 11 people across upstate New York in an investigation of child pornography distributed over the Internet.

The arrests this week followed an investigation that led to 17 federal search warrants, U.S. Attorney Andrew Baxter said Friday. The defendants, ranging in age from 18 to 58, are charged with receipt of child pornography. Some are charged with distribution. All could face at least five years in federal prison, prosecutors said.

Authorities said computer images depicting sex with prepubescent children, including toddlers, were posted and downloaded on an Internet file-sharing server. They declined to discuss other details or explain exactly how they identified the 11 suspects.

"One of the things I don't think people necessarily realize is that every image of child pornography depicts a crime scene of abuse of a child," Baxter said. "Child pornography is created by the abuse of real live people, real live children. So that the demand for those images created by people downloading and trading pornography triggers abuse down the line."

Federal authorities expect to bring 75 cases this year in northern New York, up from about 40 to 50 typically, with an additional prosecutor assigned to them. The 11 charged are from eight counties.

Baxter said one recent study from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children showed one in seven children who are regular Internet users are sexually solicited online, suggesting there are thousands of predators.

"It would traumatize people to see the images," Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Spina said.

State Police Capt. Frank Pace, who has headed his agency's Computer Crime Unit for the past year and a half, said he regards child pornography as the crack cocaine of the 21st century. "It's so prevalent out there," he said.

Pace said these are among the easiest cases to prosecute. He said these 11 defendants were not an organized group.

New York Yankees Jimmie Johnson Michael Bloomberg British Airways The View Federal cases typically end with a guilty plea and prison, even for a first offense, Spina said.

"A lot of these people have deep-seated problems. They need professional help," Baxter said. "But the bottom line is they need to stop it or eventually they're going to get caught."

The latest group doesn't include any accusations that the suspects made child pornography. While Baxter acknowledged some material originates outside the United States, technology has made it possible for anybody with a cheap camera to do it in their basement.